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Hull, August 31, 2000

French-Language Broadcasting Services Outside Quebec

Brief of the Commissioner of Official Languages in response to a call for observations on French-language broadcasting services outside Quebec

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Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages

Check against delivery

A. Comments on the policy proposal

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) invited the public to comment on French-language broadcasting services outside Quebec. My predecessor as Commissioner of Official Languages, Victor C. Goldbloom, filed a brief with the CRTC, on December 10, 1998, containing a set of proposals and recommendations in response to the call for comments on the issue of possible new rules for the distribution of French-language television services in bilingual markets.

In this brief, we indicate our preference for an allocation of services based not on the number of Francophones as defined by mother tongue, but rather on the number of speakers of French, that is, persons who indicated a knowledge of French in the 1996 Statistics Canada Census. Such a number more adequately reflects the market of potential consumers of French-language broadcasting products that results from the trend toward a higher level of bilingualism among Canadians.

I wish, first of all, to express my satisfaction that the CRTC saw fit to use the criterion of speakers rather than that of mother tongue in the policy proposal that was made public.

• We remain convinced that this approach will make it possible in the future to offer French-language broadcasting services outside Quebec. In addition, the new policy proposal would apply to markets where at least 5,000 persons or 10% of the population have a knowledge of the minority language. This approach seems to us to offer a useful basis for reflection, for as soon as one of the two criteria is met-5,000 persons or 10% - a selection of seven or eight services would have to be offered. A greater concentration should, of course, result in a wider offer of services.

The policy proposal also states that cable broadcasters would be required to carry at least one specialty service in the minority language for 10 programming services carried in the majority language. This proportion seems modest, but could be improved should the Commission have received hundreds of applications for English-language specialty channels. Such a large number of applications would lead to the approval of several French-language specialty channels.

Second, it should be noted that the new policy nevertheless cannot respond adequately to every situation in the vast and complex Canadian market. The CRTC has, in fact, neglected to specify rules for markets where the number of persons who have a knowledge of French represents more than 10% of the entire population served. Provision should be made for special rules in such cases to adequately meet the needs of these regions where speakers of French are numerically or proportionately significant. Thus, the rules applied by the CRTC for awarding cable broadcasting licences in cities with a high percentage of French speakers, such as Timmins and Sudbury, should take this reality into account.

• In this regard, we wish to reiterate our position, already set out in our brief of December 1998, that Ottawa should have permanent status as a bilingual city and thereby approach equality of service as the capital of Canada, where the equality of English and French is affirmed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

B. Considerations with regard to issues raised by the CRTC

• What are the challenges and gaps in the provision of French-language radio and television services (including specialty service television, pay-TV and pay-per-view TV) in the French-speaking minority communities in Canada?

The constant increase in the number of Canadians who say they know French suggests an ever-larger potential demand for radio and television programs in French in a number of regions of Canada. The current gaps, of course, result mainly from the fact that the provision of French language broadcasting services outside Quebec is poor. It is therefore a question of encouraging French listenership by offering a selection of services immediately.

• In short, it is essential to break the vicious circle of demand that could remain low due mainly to insufficient supply which does not adequately reflect the equality of status of English and French in Canada.

In this context, it is also important to strengthen services in French and their infrastructure outside Quebec by encouraging their distribution in Quebec, which is, of course, the principal French-speaking market in Canada. The official language minority communities always seem to bear the burden of proof when it comes to asserting their rights and obtaining adequate space on Canadian airwaves. Yet Part VII of the Official Languages Act requires that the Commission adopt a pro-active approach to advance the equality of English and French and foster the vitality of the official language communities. In this regard, the CRTC's recent denial of TFO's broadcasting application in Quebec is troubling.

Recognition of the progress of bilingualism among Canadians by adoption of the criterion of knowledge of the official languages in the CRTC's regulations on the distribution of broadcasting will make it possible to offer more services and thereby stimulate demand. Canada is based, as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states, on recognition of the equality of English and French in Canadian society. This recognition must be embodied in today's Canadian reality, where communications media play an increasingly important role.

• What are the challenges and gaps in the availability of French-language broadcasting services on all of Canada's broadcasting distribution systems?
  
• How can technological progress help to meet these challenges?

In the analog mode, distribution capacity is limited. For many years, this limited capacity has led to keen competition among American and Canadian English-language and French-language channels. In this context, the displacement of an American or Canadian English channel to permit the distribution of a French-language channel is often difficult. What is more, the French-language channels are often located toward the higher numbers and are thus less accessible.

The digital mode is now transforming this situation. Digital broadcasting offers the possibility of significantly increasing the supply of programming. The coming convergence of televison, radio and the computer thanks to digitization opens vast horizons. The consumer will be able to choose the programs he or she prefers at will.

We are currently experiencing the transition between the traditional analog mode and the digital mode.

• It is important today to encourage habits of listening in French and to do so before full competition from broadcasts from all over the world and in every language becomes the daily reality of all Canadians.

In this context, the CRTC's consultations and public hearings, pursuant to order-in-council P.C. 2000-511, and the decisions that will result from them, will have a decisive impact on the ecology of Canada's official languages. The strength and clarity of our public policies will, in fact, become increasingly necessary to consolidate Canada's linguistic duality.

• How can we encourage and promote access to the widest possible range of such services in the French-speaking minority communities?

Various official language communities are served by small (class 3) cable broadcasters, such as the French-speaking communities in Saskatchewan. The policy proposal applies to large cable broadcasters (classes 1 and 2). It is important to offer special assistance to small cable broadcasting companies so that they can offer digital services and more French-language services. Such assistance could take the form of regulatory arrangements to facilitate the transition to digital. This transition involves additional costs that class 3 cable broadcasters are often unable to assume, since a critical mass of subscribers is required to generate sufficient income for these conversions.

• The Commission should therefore conduct a study on the resources required to facilitate the transition to digital and to more French-language broadcasting services by class 3 cable broadcasters.

The problem of accessibility to the televised debates of the House of Commons has also been brought to our attention recently. The House of Commons television service transmits the debates of the House of Commons and of certain committees to CPAC by using one video signal and three audio signals: English, French and the original. CPAC distributes these signals by satellite to cable broadcasting companies throughout Canada, and the latter choose the language of the audio signal they wish to provide free of charge to their televison viewers. Therefore, members of the public do not always have access to these televised debates in their preferred language.

This problem is the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. As you know, the debates and proceedings of the House of Commons are a valuable source of information for the exercise of democracy. The Commission should therefore look into this important issue in the context of its current work and of the Commissioner's report, which will be published shortly.

• Should the Commission adopt a different approach in the Ottawa region?

Ottawa is the capital of all Canadians. As a political capital and administrative centre, it is a place to which the eyes of all Canadians turn. It must set an example as a genuine embodiment of fundamental Canadian values. Linguistic duality should also become an everyday reality, particularly as regards the availability of radio and television services.

• Ottawa, in terms of the CRTC's regulations, should de facto be considered a bilingual market.

This implies aiming for an equality of services that would permit full broadcasting services in Canada's two official languages. The licences of private radio and television companies in the national capital should automatically include clauses to guarantee full services in the two official languages in the greater Ottawa region.

• How can we ensure that the Canadian broadcasting system reflects the diversity of Francophone communities all across the country?

It is vital to adequately reflect the diversity of the Francophone and Acadian communities all across Canada. In this regard, the Commission should recognize that community radio stations are excellent means of informing, communicating with and connecting local communities whose rate of illiteracy is, in some regions, twice the Canadian average. Community radio stations often reach a small percentage of the population.

• The Commission should take into account the inherent challenges of the situation of community radio stations to promote the introduction of a regulatory framework favouring their success.

In a number of provinces, moreover, they represent the only alternative in French to the CBC and the only stations that reflect the concerns of the local community. In this regard, the recent refusal to grant a broadcasting licence to a French-language community radio project in Toronto is very worrisome.

• The Commission should also consider the possibility of ordaining, as a general policy, that radio stations and specialty television channels devoted to English-language music make appropriate room on their airwaves for French-language songs without, however, diluting the audience share of French-language stations.

Canada's English-speaking majority would thereby have greater access to this aspect of French culture, which is an integral part of the Canadian identity. Linguistic duality is one of the cornerstones of Canada. This Canadian reality should be reflected in Canada's broadcasting system.

• In addition, networks that obtain the status of a national network should, in our opinion, consider the possibility of dividing the network up based on regional realities.

This would no doubt make it possible for the regions to break away more often from the national network in order to give more room to special programming making reference to their reality.

Conclusion

The report that the Commission will prepare by December 31, 2000, after analyzing the written observations, and after the regional consultations and public hearings, should specify the changes required to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations that would come into force in the spring of 2001. The new regulations should be a genuine tool to actively foster the vitality of Canada's Francophone and Acadian communities and should accordingly fully take into consideration the objectives of the Official Languages Act and the Broadcasting Act.

This heartfelt comment, written last year by Murray Maltais, an editorialist for the daily Le Droit, remains pertinent today:

• (Our translation)
  Francophones outside Quebec are being assimilated for all sorts of reasons. The lack of choice-indeed the total absence of French-language television-is certainly one of the main ones.